Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 969: URGENT TO THE LAIR! - Part 4

A thousand hands reached from beyond the veil, nicked and pierced by the many pale nuns trying to rescue their mother from the mistress of life and death. Yet their nails, their fingers, even their bones grew brittle as chalk and broke the moment they reached beyond the veil. Cast away by the light of the most benevolent and powerful version of Athenia.

Her vigil over Nerva was like bars of iron confining her in a bird cage. Rattling it from the inside, Nerva tried making her attempt to escape, but the lord of lords and the maestro of this heavenly game lay beyond her reach–doing whatever he must’ve been doing. This wasn’t his plan for her! No, it can’t be! She thought, cursing the Creator.

Alas, there was not much for her to do but watch for when Athenia’s strength began to crumble, and hers returned, for the many versions of herself were mere worlds away–itching to get to her and get her back where she was most needed. Biding her time, Nerva rattled the cage, so to speak, while Athenia was busy fighting off the phantoms trying to get to them and also keeping an eye on her other self as she ventured through the darkness of the void.

"They will eat you from the inside, starting from the heart to the bone."

"Or they’ll just leave me be, since my death would only be the start of this world-crossing vendetta." With a smile on her face, Athenia added. "When you can’t control your own world, would you really want to wage a war against another one? Perhaps this Athenia isn’t the first I’ve either, so make that as a Gaian would say, ’a combo package’."

"Gaia...pftt!" Scoffing at the goddess, Nerva closed her eyes and tried to look beyond the veil herself. At least sense something of her own plain, but not a thought; nary a window would open.

As for the heroes in their descent through the darkness, they felt countless hands trying to grab them and draw their bodies through what could only be the worst of horrors. The abyss itself was a gaping extension of the dead goddess and her minions, but falling down the blackest pit surrounded by the safety of the singing bards who’d emerged from the mantles, Raven noticed colossal bones and armies of soldiers locked in mud and darkness. Which made him wonder...

’Dead gods, of course their bodies sank into this pit if Nerva is the soil of our world. This world...who knew it was rotten to the core, even if the surface looks gentle and pure.’ The thought of the Everspring came back to Raven’s mind and how it had been upheld by the Mistress–a devil of all things because of that twisted deal with the real Aphrodite. ’What the hell is there that’s truly pure?’

Suddenly, as his feet touched solid ground, Raven snapped out of his mind. Looking around, however, he couldn’t find anyone else. Not a peep nor a whisper, just darkness in all directions with the faintest flicker of Athenia’s light far off into the distance acting as a guide.

"Follow me." Her voice urged, pushing away the darkness before him like cobwebs being dusted off with ease.

The receding darkness gave way to light, and in the hollows where nothing had been beside him until then, Raven found his companions, some struggling to get up. Others were lying on the ground asleep, with their expressions contorted by the horrors tormenting their dreams in their dreams.

"Erika, Amedith, holy magic!" Instantly snapping into his commander role, Raven ordered those capable of casting holy magic to get to work. For an instant, however, he felt a strange electric feeling on his fingers at the mention of the magic school. Staring at his hand as the other two were getting closer to the unconscious few, he whispered to himself. "Holy magic?"

Like the charge of electricity firing out of circuit, a flash of light and electric feeling emerged on top of his palm. Next came a rune circle, spinning right above his skin, with the word ’Fae Mother’s Due: Illumina’ staring back at him. Shifting his gaze back to those few on the ground, he extended his hand to test something out.

"Dispel Curse!" A blinding beam of lust erupted through his hands, consuming the whole of the dark passage and even blinding his own companions until it retreated in just a few seconds. "What the hells?"

"What the fuck was that?!" Amedith grunted, looking up at Raven.

"A holy spell, but..." Narrowing her gaze at Raven, Erika couldn’t help but wonder. "I thought you couldn’t cast it if you didn’t have an affinity for it from birth."

Unlike other schools of magic, only a handful of humans could cast holy spells. And to see Raven suddenly casting a powerful dispelling spell, both Amedith and Erika were at a loss for words.

"G-gods...What happened?" But before they could question it further, Melicia’s growing voice reminded them of their task.

One after the other, all who’d been unconscious began to wake up and raised themselves to their feet–feeling a woozy sensation swimming through the front and back of their cranium. A nightmare inside a nightmare, whatever it was that they’d been through, wasn’t pretty, nor did they remember it. The only thing they knew–

"It...felt like I was trapped in there for a lifetime." Liliyana’s explanation was enough for them to boost them on their feet and stay close to Athenia. Whatever horrors lurked in this darkness, mortals had no effect on them, and only the dead or the divine could drive them away.

"We will talk about what happened later!" Raven ordered as they closed the gap between them and Athenia.

"Let’s hope there are no more surprises in this damned place until then," Liliyana added, having just learned about what had occurred from Amedith.

And while everyone’s interest in the strange occurrence was at its peak, they couldn’t afford to lose even a moment of time. Out of the one hour, half an hour had already been spent falling down the abyssal depths, and what remained of their time, they had to not only rescue the kids, but also unchain the fae mothers.

’Like hell we have enough time...’ Needless to say, Raven wasn’t exactly confident that they could pull this off. Yet his hesitation remained with him, for in the heart of horror, even a single doubt could bud into their worst nightmare. And for now, that nightmare was running out of time before accomplishing the rescues.